"Hi, Thomas, it's Frank Black," said the voice on thephone that morning. "I'm at my manager's house, and I'mmaking some calls this morning, and I saw you on the listfor interview requests, and I just thought I'd call and seeif you wanted to set something up."

As the conversation trickled on, though — thisactually was Frank Black, former lead singer of the Pixiesand now slightly less manic solo artist. We arranged ourinterview for the following week, and I voiced my surpriseat his grassroots service.

"Well, I'm just a regular guy," he said.

"As a fan of your crazy music for the last 10 years, Isomehow doubt that, but we'll talk more later," I said.

On the appointed day, I called him at 8 a.m. Not exactlya rock star hour. Maybe he's a regular guy, after all.

"My mornings are pretty regular guy-ish," Black said. "Iget up, give various animals a treat. If I'm in a coffeestreak, I'll make coffee. If we have nice foodstuffs in thehouse, I might prepare myself a gourmet breakfast or skipit altogether. Then I make phone calls."

The Pixies re-established the chaos at rock's core,laying the foundations for '90s modern rock with theirserrated guitars, sloppy playing and Black's alternatingmischievous irony and brain-curdling shouts. Listening tothem rage through such visceral, subversive rants like"Gouge Away," "Debaser" and "Bone Machine," sunny mornings withbreakfast and puppies are not exactly how I had envisionedBlack greeting each new day.

The years have mellowed Black, though — not to mentionthe distance from the Pixies' former glory. The groupdisbanded in 1993, and Black took off on a solo careerportraying himself as an average suburban nobody withunexplained obsessions. The sales have shrunk ever since,and so have Black's notions of how to conduct business.

"I was calling you because it's just easier for me to getthings done when I have the chance," Black said. "The bandhas decided to do this next leg of the tour without a crew,without even a tour manager. It's my job to advance theshows. We've been in constant downscaling mode for the lastcouple of years ... We're enjoying becoming moreself-sufficient. The more we do it, the less we need. Idon't freak out if we show up to a gig and the monitorssound horrible. We booked the gig, and people are there.The only thing that really bugs me is a messy, dirtybackstage men's room."

Black's latest record illustrates the new stripped-downapproach, as well. "Frank Black and the Catholics," Blacks'fourth solo release and the first to bill his new backingband, was recorded directly to two-track digital tape. Nomultitracking. No overdubbing. No studio trickery orpolishing. In fact, the album they released was intended tobe a mere series of demonstration recordings.

"We were really just making an expensive demo," Blacksaid. "We had booked four days in a studio that was athousand dollars a day. Time itself said to forget themultitracking and play live, which we'd never done ... I'vebeen in a pattern of writing in the studio, of building abacking track and worrying about the lyrical content later.We couldn't do that here. After the second day in thestudio, we realized it sounded good, familiar, like we knewwe sounded in a club."

Black's first couple of solo records were largelycollaborations with Eric Drew Feldman, a one-time veteranof both Pere Ubu and Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. ThoughFeldman still contributes on occasion, he backed away fromthe projects as a tighter band began to gel around Black.Black said Feldman still may join the Catholics as akeyboard player, but he's busy producing PJ Harvey at themoment.

The return to the band construct has streamlined hissound, Black said, and he's glad to be a member of a posseagain.

"It's hard to miss the Pixies when we've got another banddynamic going," Black said. "It feels more band-like now. Thechoice of bandmates is more mature, too. You sort of fallinto a situation with a bunch of people when you'reyounger. That had no experience behind it. This has 10 to12 years of experience behind it. Now it's more possible tobe the Rolling Stones when before we were more like theMonkees. There's something to be said for experience. Itcreates a groove of its own, which I think is heavier."

Heavy grooves are certainly what Black enjoys. The newalbum is fairly typical and full of them, though the liverecording keeps things moving briskly. The groove is theeasy part, Black said. It's the lyric writing he dreads,which may explain a good deal of his, um, bent verses ("MyFu Manchu / Is a hard-earned way / Occidentally tic-tac").

"The easy part is strumming the guitar and getting thatfirst lump of clay that looks like a song. You shape it,figure out the chord progression, and the melody comes outof that. The next part is pushing myself to write thelyric. I have to push," Black said. "It's like an algebraassignment. I'm not looking forward to it, and I put itoff. Once I get into it, I enjoy it, but there's a mentalblock to that point. It's the scholarly side ofsongwriting. It's about having words rhyme together andhaving the song make sense, even if it's just to yourself.It's puzzle solving.

"At this point, I'm not worried about what the song'sabout yet. You can write a song about anything. It's aboutputting words together. I get out dictionaries andreference books, geographical dictionaries, rhymingdictionaries. There's language in these books, and that'swhat it's all about. I'll get to three notes in the melody,and I'll think, 'Here, I want to go wah-wo-wah.' What wordsounds like that? I'll stumble on a word for it. It mightbe obscure, but it will set off a flurry of activity. Thenit's, `Oh, this will be a song about that.' "

One thing Black does not write about much, though, ishimself. No confessional singer-songwriter stuff here.

"I don't get too caught up in that whole diary rockthing, when you have to write something from the heart.That's icky," he said. "You will write from the heart,whatever you write. There's a lot of fake stuff from theheart. People get caught up in striking a certain kind ofpose, and it makes for some lame songs."

Frank Black and the Catholics When 8 p.m. SaturdayWhere Cain's Ballroom, 423 N. Main St.Tickets $11,available at The Ticket Office at Expo Square, MohawkMusic, Starship Records and Tapes and the Mark-It ShirtShop

These online "clips" reproduce a self-selection of my journalism (music etc) during the last 20+ years. It's a lotta stuff, but it only scratches the surface. I do not currently possess the time or resources to digitize the whole body of work. These posts are simply a bunch of pretty great days at the office.